‘Penguins’ premieres in L.A.

Carrey's co-stars keep production cool

The premiere of “Mr. Popper’s Penguins” on Sunday at the Chinese brought plenty of penguins (live ones), photogs (loud ones) and piles of snow (fake ones).

Indeed, 20th Century Fox’s family-friendly premiere took an Antarctic approach — from snow falling on the white carpet to sushi and slushies at the afterparty at the Roosevelt. Reportedly, the filming was equally cool.

“We had to freeze the set down, which meant six 10-ton air conditioners,” director Mark Waters said. “Jim Carrey was wearing long underwear underneath his shirt and running back and forth from a space heater between takes.”

But Carrey isn’t one to complain, especially after some of his past animal-kingdom experiences. “With the baboon on ‘Ace Ventura 2,’ they literally told me, ‘If you look him in the eye, he’ll rip your face off,’ ” he recalled. “So penguins weren’t bad.”

Co-star Clark Gregg actually got the cold shoulder from the birds.

“The penguins would swarm you if you had fish and ignore you if you didn’t,” he revealed. “They’re like a mean girlfriend. It brought back a lot of memories.”